PerreaultForever

Are you his agent? idk where you get this from. I never saw it. imo he was nowhere near Benson (even after a year in Rochester) than where Benson already is at a younger age. I see very little comparison at all. I also thought last year (and said it) that Peterka looked like the one with more potential on that Quinn Cozens Peterka line. Now I'm not saying Quinn won't eventually be good. He could be. I just don't remember this big impact you and some others seem to feel he had last year. Just another kid with a lot to learn imo. We will see how he is post injury. It's not any easy injury to bounce back from in a sport that involves a lot of stress and strain on ankles but time will tell.

I can't think of anything, unfortunately it kind of works for when he's not good (i.e. when the Levi breaks have no place to run.....) I predicted the Bruins might come out flat and they did. Combine that with one of the Sabres better games at a team level and there's your result. We actually played a little team defense tonight so that was quite the switch. It's funny but that seems to happen sometimes with teams when their big offensive star goes out, young goalie comes back up, coach then stresses the absolute need for team D and this time they delivered. Have to hope that will continue and keep continuing when Dahlin returns. You can tell the new guy was developed in a different system. He goes to the net. Unfortunately doesn't seem to have a lot of skill or finish, but he might be a reasonable 4th liner. Seems to try to do things the right way in any event. Now to make this effort and work ethic an every night thing and not rest on a one game performance.

Nobody should be considered "untouchable" on a losing franchise. Look at Arizona, they moved out a very good player in Chychrun and they got better. Now I know he wanted out, but the point is you can move out talent and improve if you do things right. It's the toys that you play with that are useful to you, not the shiny new ones still in their packaging.

I have a hard time believing that. Tanev is a fan favourite.

It's funny there's an "is it time" sort of thread and also this "it is time" thread. Next comes the it's "way past time" one.

I think the Bruins will come out flat and over confidant in this one so if the Sabres come out hungry to turn the skid around they can catch them napping and win this. Flu bug also making it's way through Boston. Swayman sick so I think we get Ullmark.

I was listening to some Boston reporters on a podcast and Buffalo briefly came up as a team that was supposed to pass the Bruins this year (along with Ottawa and Detroit) and the comment from them was, "there's some talented guys there but they don't know how to play hockey. Nobody teaches them how to play properly." and that's pretty much how I see it too. I've said this before but it is the thing. The talk from Granato was it's harder to learn offense, learn that first (which is backwards but whatever) but now we still don't seem to be learning defense and I see very little evidence that they are being taught defense at all. I cannot figure out if there is a defensive system. There does not appear to be one at all. Quick zone exit is not a proper system. As to the identity, they do have one. Soft team, loser culture, hence nobody wants to come here. That is the identity until they change it.

EJ maybe, not so sure about Girgs. If Girgs was "in demand" he'd probably have already left here a few times as a free agent.

Why? What do you honestly think a guy who couldn't stay in the Columbus line up will bring us? Ridiculous. Well that's true, team is chock full of babies.

Ya, that would be a difference. I played hockey and love hockey. If Buffalo disappeared tomorrow I could move on. I've stuck with the team since the French Connection days as my number one team but I've managed to stay sane rooting for Boston and others over this time period as well. Managed to have some enjoyable highs that way along with the constant lows. Local residents who cheer local obviously have a harder time with things. I get that. I'd still have a B or C team though, even if I did live in Buffalo.

But you didn't answer the question as to why trade for him? What need does he fill? We could have (for example) just as easily have claimed Anton Blidh on waivers from NY the other day for nothing and had him occupy a bottom roster spot instead of Biro and at half the salary of this guy. He's a low skill high energy guy who occasionally hits people. I see no value in this trade at all.

Which is why I need 2nd, 3rd, even 4th teams to root for. I cannot imagine what it must be like for someone who only likes the Sabres over this last decade. That has to be absolutely brutal.

How? What does he give us that we did not have? What need did he fill?

Yes absolutely. I'm not 100% sure who else they added vs. what they already had but just take Dumba and Durzi vs. Clifton and Johnson and do the math right there.

Size only matters if you use it.

I haven't seen them play much but I think it might have more to do with the D they picked up than the goalie on his own. Consider, for example, how much Minnesota's goaltending has dropped without Dumba and vice versa. He's not the only part of that obviously, they have several D men new to that team, but I do think it's part of it. Ullmark won a Vezina in Boston. Do you think he'd have put up the same save numbers if he'd stayed in Buffalo? Or do you think Aidin Hill would have put up his numbers without their D and Cassidy's system? Everything is connected, and it is most certainly not just "luck".

imo it's not just a slump, he's (comparatively) weak. He needs weight and muscle. Strength training. He's fine in open ice but he is completely incapable of doing anything around the net if opponents assert their physicality. He also is incapable of forcing a player outside if said player uses his body to shield the puck. idk what he did in the off season, but he should have been adding muscle instead. He's a boy in a man's game right now.

me thinks you might be right.

Yes, the "drunken Indian" thing was all racist BS but you're missing one important aspect. Nolan had a contentious and argumentative relationship with his GM and Regier wasn't sure if he'd be able to work with Nolan on Nolan's terms so he offered him the one year deal as a trial for that. Nolan's pride made him refuse it. Regier got lucky with Ruff. Ruff had been a decent assistant and he had Sabres roots, but there was no way to know if he'd be a good head coach or not. He could just as easily have been like Housley.

The problem is all of them, and most of all TP.

Unless the trade was ridiculously good I'd have no interest in trading Dahlin, Tuch, Benson and (although he's off this year I still see the right character in him) Cozens. Everybody else I couldn't care less about.

Here's the quote I found at the Hockey news. "Robinson’s presence on the ice has often been described as uneventful." So, a perfect fit then. (This literally sounds like Columbus wants to clear 1.6 million in cap for some reason and we reach desperately for an NCAA underachiever who it'll turn out Granato probably coached or knows, and it is just another nothing move by our failed franchise)

Totally agree. This is why I haven't been looking at points at all but only points percentage. All those games in hand shake things out in points producing ways. Lots of loser points out there as well. If you look at points percentage only Columbus is below us in the conference. That's our actual standing. Next to last. Next to last in goal differential as well. That stat from the game though (although it wasn't a surprise) really told the tale though. Dead last in the league (even worse than San Jose) in terms of shots with net front presence. The eye test told me, yup, that figures, but seeing it as an actual stat just drove it home hard. You won't win hockey games without guys in front, you just won't.

idk, it depends. I used to follow the draft but I've quit this year because I'm tired of that being our concern so I don't know much about Celebrini. My point would be if this guy is a character guy, if he has the drive that Benson seems to show maybe we are better off getting him BUT, and it's a big but, only if we trade away some of what we already have in terms of prospects and start creating a more balanced roster. So in other words, I'm with you 100% on the surplus and imbalance, just not sure who, or which ones are the ones to keep and the ones to not keep. I'm really not crazy about most of the guys we have waiting in the wings.

and to think, I'm on a Bruins website and a lot of their fans are angry that the Bruins have allowed late tying goals in a couple games (even though they still won in OT) and they think Sweeney has made the team too soft and thus a lot of them want him fired. lol, it's all relative isn't it.